To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Take Social Security off the table.
The debt problem is not because of Social Security, so it should not be part of the "Fiscal Cliff" negotiations.
Why is this important?
The Social Security Trust Fund is solvent and only problematic when political leaders see the money and want to use it. This was true of Lyndon B. Johnson, for his war in Southeast Asia, and in 1980 President Reagan and the democratic congress decided to tax the benefits.
The COLA, initated in 1975 was used as a means to cope with out of control inflation, but has been kept until it's recent use in the "fiscal cliff" talks.. The SSI program must be taken off the table while the fiscal cliff is under discussion. Any revision of the program needs a concentrated analysis and review that guarantees any contributions to the SSI funds are put in a "locked box" for future generations. To use SSLI as a chip to leverage free income for the top 2% is a further deterioration for the life of older Americans.
Remember SSI funds are used to to make Medicare payments and come out of the individuals monthly supplements. Medicare's fee didn't freeze, why keep taking money away from social security recipients. If you freeze the supplement, then make it tax free again.
The COLA, initated in 1975 was used as a means to cope with out of control inflation, but has been kept until it's recent use in the "fiscal cliff" talks.. The SSI program must be taken off the table while the fiscal cliff is under discussion. Any revision of the program needs a concentrated analysis and review that guarantees any contributions to the SSI funds are put in a "locked box" for future generations. To use SSLI as a chip to leverage free income for the top 2% is a further deterioration for the life of older Americans.
Remember SSI funds are used to to make Medicare payments and come out of the individuals monthly supplements. Medicare's fee didn't freeze, why keep taking money away from social security recipients. If you freeze the supplement, then make it tax free again.